Janet DesGeorges is a co-founder and part of the staff at Hands & Voices Headquarters, serving as the Executive Director since September 2011, having previously served as the Outreach Director since 2005, and as the Executive Director of the Flagship chapter of Hands & Voices in Colorado for almost 10 years prior to that. Janet has presented to groups worldwide about the experiences of families as they journey through life with a child with deafness or hearing loss. Ms. DesGeorges is the author on the chapter for Family Support in the NCHAM e-Book, the co-author of the book Educational Advocacy for Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing: The Hands & Voices Guidebook, and many other publications. Ms. DesGeorges received a program certificate from the MCH Public Health Leadership Institute in 2011 at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Janet currently serves as the NCHAM Family Advisory Chairperson. As an EHDI Systems advocate, Janet believes in the principles and guiding philosophies of Hands & Voices towards a parent-driven, professionally-collaborative approach when supporting families in the early years. Professionals and parents can partner together to achieve appropriate outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Her areas of interest include Leadership Development for parents who participate in systemic improvement; Deaf Education Reform and Improvement; Children’s Safety and Success(preventing child abuse and neglect); Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Systems; Parent/Professional partnerships in Quality Improvement processes.
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Lisa Kovacs is Director of Programs for Hands & Voices HQ, one of the founding board members of Indiana Hands &Voices, and she’s been with Hands & Voices since 2004. She serves on the; AAP EHDI Leadership Team, AAP EHDI QI Expert Group, Global Coalition for Hearing Health Board of Directors, and Vice Chair of the Indiana Department of Education Special Education Advisory Council. Lisa’s professional interest include; Parent Advocacy; Implementation of parent engagement in systems building; Parent to Parent support; Deaf Education Reform; Parent advocacy in school systems; IDEA, ESSA, Part C and Part B Training to Parents; Medical Home Initiatives. Lisa has extensive experience in training and empowering parents, including encouraging parents to develop their child’s ability to advocate for themselves.